Pan
by iamdlai
Summary: A modern-day retelling of the classic Peter Pan story.


p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4ecd5664e47b8c16999fa29da1ebc134"It was the grandest, most extravagant party Wendy had ever seen. All seven floors of the mansion were packed with a sea of people coated with champagne-colored confetti that rained endlessly from the chandelier-fraught ceiling. Everything was lit by the soft glow of lanterns and moonlight streaming through massive french windows that stretched all seven stories, 100 feet high. Outside, a series of glowing aqua blue pools connected by miniature waterfalls ended abruptly in a break taking view of a valley of twinkling lights and the ocean bay./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8df6fbcc43d31d99e5112eb009ed8a2d"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="52fd70c3b6ff6d8b70985ac0ce9c1111"Elevated on the central dais was a crisply uniformed string quartet. They had stopped playing and were glaring resentfully at the naked boy perched in the middle of the giant chocolate fountain a few feet away, haphazardly blowing on a massive brass tuba that also conveniently covered his private parts. He was having little difficulty stealing the audience - in part because of the stream of alcohol that erupted from his tuba into open mouths each time he hit a particularly high note. In another corner, girls in sparkling fairy costumes giggled as they piled quivering jello shots on top of a half-asleep boy, undeterred by the fact that he ate the jelly as soon as they placed it on his body. One of the horses had broken loose from the carriages. It was prancing through the pool, a shimmering white thing with silver tassels in its mane and a horn tied half-heartedly to its head. A drunken girl attempted to climb onto the horse's bare back, only to fall off clumsily as the horse shied away. Aerial ribbon dancers twisted from the vaulted ceiling in their silver rings, their motions synchronized with pulsating dance music. Scantily clad dancers gyrated on podiums, beckoning at the partygoers below with their peacock feathers./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2ec1c9b5c766d2966619f6b8691fc7a9"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="7c292782d83024fa31b2d03907175310"Wendy stood on the winding staircase between the second and third floor. She leaned back against the wall, allowing a gaggle of revelers to walk by. She ducked as one of the girls, dressed in a fluffy, sequined blue dress with a yellow bird beak fastened on her nose, threw her drink in the air, splashing the wall where Wendy's head had been with its contents, something pink and strong-smelling./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="64ecb557e4235d2708079518c99ec6a3"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="67983ff16f50f3fa69bfd2353c47c859"Wendy shook her head at the man offering her a silver tray of caviar. The eerie, dance music reverberated in her ears, but she couldn't bring herself to join the dance floor. Why was she even here? She had almost chosen to ignore the strange invite. Now, watching the revelry, she wondered if she belonged./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="827bbc0fb2f2142ca543adc1d1370cf1"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="51b9c8c96e0e451907490f8bb5fe1600"She looked up to where the staircase ended at the fourth floor, which extended into an interior balcony facing the french windows and overlooking all three stories below of revelry below. The entrance was roped off, blocked by a 'VIPs Only' sign and a massive, surly looking man, perhaps all the more surly because, in addition to his suit and tie, he had been made to wear rabbit ears and fuzzy white tail./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="90670fcf0dd1526586566b66e50ab245"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="55369fec677c2aed9d3c989e13239189"In the plush shadowed confines of the VIP balcony Wendy glimpsed the elite of the night in matching forest sprite costumes of glittering green fauna and animal limbs. Even from far away, Wendy could see that they were lovely people, the sort of loveliness that turned heads, that made her feel more out of place than ever. At their center, their star: a breathtakingly beautiful boy with a makeshift crown of green tinfoil leaves lounged bare-chested in a chair, a bored, haughty smile on his face./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2192133ccb4de81fb3929127c2a5a0e6"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /His eyes roved the room for entertainment, and settled on a group of people pleading with the surly rabbit guard for entrance to the balcony. There were two lovely girls, so similar they could have been sisters, their gold sequined swimsuits accenting their impossibly long willowy figures and brought out the gold in their hair, which tumbled out from under crowns of deer antlers all the way down to their hips. With them was a boy dressed as a hunter./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="15a29f54daa1b9d2a523cafa0736c352"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2d93bb2558ccac3389b26424d5016b19"The crowned boy shouted at the rabbit guard, who stood aside. The deer girls gleefully waltzed in, arranging themselves on either side of the crowned boy and rewarding him each with a kiss on the cheek. But the crowned boy's attention was on their male compatriot in his hunter garb. He shouted something at the hunter, who shook his head. The rabbit guard approached menacingly. Looking resigned, the hunter boy began what appeared to be a strip tease for the occupants of the balcony./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="72d123da4ab437a7d16f95989987ee7d"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="7d194b19d22a869604050e3178202939"Rolling her eyes, Wendy turned away. Whoever the party VIPs were, there was exactly zero chance of her getting in. She was neither stunningly gorgeous, nor willing to make a fool of herself-not that she was even capable of being as entertaining a fool as the hunter boy./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="efb88803e724a095877884e531471ef6"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8674b951b5f17bf010d46684f40b99f9"Wendy looked out over the party and wondered again why she was here. Her train of thought was disrupted by a large clanging sound. Look to the sound Wendy saw an upended silver tray and macarons strewn across the ground, now covered in a sea of pink, green, and cream-colored confections. A caterer was frantically picking up the mess. Next to him, a drunken boy munched on the handful of macarons in his hands while apologizing out of the corner of his mouth, simultaneous spraying the caterer in the face with bits of colorful wet crumbs. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d91ec8587b9bfa984b9ba059031eddd9"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="67d350c37340bc6c00fe7ce23ac8bb87"Crouching down, Wendy began picking up the macarons./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5f62e3c30d8d59cb9c4d70d5af3838b8"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a54f75b67d432fe08941fcb8ee212e80""Oh no, miss, you don't have to-"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4a2250438c8c447942eb5035078cc13e"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="7d340d68b5d8902438bb19aa11a0e47b""It's OK. I have nothing better to do. It's not your fault when drunk people at a party start knocking everything over. Do you have any napkins?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f1033d67afeda3dd766c4a0ef6c798a2"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e247092b81b27b58a0a317abc5f66efb""Yes, but they're back in the kitchens, and if my boss sees this mess and no one cleaning it up..."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="83e3ccc6396ed00c8270c4b0df58c3df"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="42e15b9d8d44cf7c6cdbeae2eacd21a6""Why don't you go back and grab the napkins, and I'll keep cleaning up. Really, it's not a problem."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c6ac98755d6a33b03affbf811ea38e63"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8282a61a8948bdc13e6a41894939f33e"Throwing a thankful look at Wendy, the caterer rushed down the stairs in the direction of the kitchen. Wendy began methodically picking up the macarons./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="93700b0924c05eee72049cc26996765b"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="df5f3004c9de6a7c74415531241ef746""A guest of Neverland should never do anything as grown-up as cleaning up."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="91fedf8ba6c1aeb4a1f2ed7ca9586686"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Wendy turned and stared deep into a mesmerizing pair of forest green eyes, smiling at her beneath a tumble of tousled auburn hair, a crown of green tinfoil leaves perched on top. /p 


End file.
